Excellent audiobook.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my feedback.

After video footage is shared online of teenage Jay’s death, <i>Help, I’m Alive!</i> follows 4 people impacted by his death: Winona, Jay’s more-or-less girlfriend; Ash, Jay’s former best friend; Pavan, Ash’s mom; and Anik, Ash’s older brother.

The four people chosen to follow in this story are interesting; some, you would expect, such as Winona and Ash, but Pavan and Anik didn’t have much interaction with Jay. I think the book might have been better if one of the main characters had been cut so that the remaining three could be better fleshed out. There were a lot of issues touched on in this book but not enough time to give each of them justice.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This book is perfect for fans of dark teen stories like Thirteen Reasons Why and Looking For Alaska, which also deal with teen suicide and how it affects the surviving group of friends.

It’s a dark story with mature themes such as suicide, grief, loss, death, loneliness, and all manner of mental health issues. Perfect for young adults but I personally wouldn’t recommend it to younger teens.

I must be honest and say that I did not finish the book because I found myself uninterested. That’s not because the writing was poor, rather because it was a poor Netgalley request on my part. I don’t think I’ll request any more Young Adult books no matter how mature the content appears to be — I am simply past that stage of life and don’t enjoy the stories like I used to. The main reason I did not finish the book is that I wasn’t keen on was the POV hopping. For some reason in this book I found it made it difficult to connect with the characters.

I know netgalley likes us to give a star rating but I only got 60% through the book so will only be able to give 3 stars.

An emotionally charged retelling of four people's journey following the suicide of a teenager. Boyfriend/friend/son...all labels held by one person. One person perceived in so many ways. Could anyone have made a difference?

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

Help! I'm Alive made me think a lot of Dear Evan Hansen and Thirteen Reasons Why, which are also heavyweights in the teen suicide genre. Definitely a lot of emotional weight to this one, but the author doesn't fall into the trap of trying to do too much with it. I found the characters to be intriguing and likable, and the plot definitely never felt stagnant. The ending provided just enough hope and closure without being over the top. I would definitely recommend this book.

As an adult I read to escape the everyday stresses. This book contains every teenage difficulty including suicide, self harm, internet suicide games, peer pressure, broken families and drugs. If as a parent, you want to understand what teenagers witness and experience around them , then this book pretty much contains it all.
Be aware though, it is emotionally draining and lowers your mood. I could not recommend it to teenagers as I feel it will impact them in a negative way.